School Bus Strike Ends

After More Than Four Weeks, Drivers, Matrons Set to Return to Job Wednesday

By

Lisa Fleisher and

Michael Howard Saul

Updated Feb. 15, 2013 10:46 p.m. ET

New York City school bus union leaders voted Friday to end a nearly monthlong strike, sending more than 8,000 drivers, matrons and mechanics back to work apparently without achieving their goals.

The decision meant that the full fleet of buses should begin picking up children again Wednesday, the first day back following a school vacation.

Union leaders said they were willing to call off the strike because of a pledge of support from five Democratic mayoral hopefuls. The best way forward, they said, would be to try to work with a new mayor in 2014.

"Because of this strike, we have gained the support of many political allies in the city, in the state," Michael Cordiello, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1181, said on a conference call to members. He said the strike was successful in raising awareness of their cause.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg also declared victory.

"For decades, the monopolistic bus contract process benefited the bus companies and unions at the expense of the city's taxpayers and students—but no longer," he said.

The vote capped a week of developments in the strike, which began Jan. 16 as a way to try to force the Bloomberg administration to keep job protections in contracts. Currently, bus companies are required to fill open jobs based on a citywide seniority list. The city said a 2011 court decision made the protections illegal, but the bus workers' union said the ruling didn't apply to the routes under dispute.

The first competitive bidding process in 33 years drew interest from scores of companies. On Tuesday, the city opened 67 bid packages for five-year contracts on about 1,100 routes.

The mayor said Thursday during his state of the city speech that he expected the city would save hundreds of millions of dollars on the new contracts and called the strike a "lost cause."

Most of the 1.1 million children who attend city public schools walk or take public transportation. The strike affected about 150,000 students who travel by bus to public, private and parochial schools, both in the city and in the surrounding suburbs.

As the strike dragged on, life slowly returned to a routine for most students. Attendance in general-education classes returned to normal—at 90% on Thursday—and special-education attendance was close to normal at 78%.

Larry Hanley, international president of the Amalgamated Transit Union, said he had been in talks with Democratic mayoral candidates to figure out a "creative way" to end the strike.

The five candidates—City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, former Comptroller Bill Thompson, Comptroller John Liu and former City Councilman Sal Albanese—signed a letter asking them to return to work.

"It's irrelevant as to how this letter came to be," Mr. Liu said. He declined to provide details on who organized it or how he came to sign it. "It's quite possible that Bloomberg will get his way, but the issue is not going away." Several Democratic candidates praised the returning workers for making a decision they said was in the best interest of students.

Republican mayoral candidate Joseph Lhota said he was glad the strike was over but criticized his Democratic opponents. "I find it appalling and disrespectful that five Democrat candidates for mayor would pledge to put the desires of a union ahead of the needs of all New Yorkers," he said. "This is simply further proof that these candidates are beholden to union interests."

Drivers said they were eager to go back. They had been living on reduced pay without health benefits.

Michele Ferrara, 60 years old, of Staten Island, said morale on the picket lines is high some days, and low others.

"As time goes by it gets very depressing that we're still out of work," she said. "It's my first time on strike, and anybody on strike can tell you it's a rollercoaster. You hope and you pray that you have your job."

Bus companies say they have hired a few hundred replacement drivers, and some of the least experienced strikers wouldn't have jobs to return to.

One company official said the union members hurt their negotiating position in current contract talks. "They played their ace and lost the hand," the official said. "The threat of a strike is no longer a possibility. You went out on strike? What did it accomplish?"

Parents said they were eager to be relieved of the burden of bringing students to school. Some parents said they had been taking time off from work to make the extra commute, paying money out of pocket for cabs before receiving reimbursement from the city, or simply staying home with their children.

Margaret DePaula, 67, a substitute special-education teacher, said she drove her two grandsons home from their school in Bayside, Queens. She was still wary that the strike would have a tidy resolution.

"Truthfully, I don't trust the mayor," she said. "I'm not going to be relieved if these people are going to lose their jobs."

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